The return of the super sub

After another weekend of comebacks and upsets in the Premier
League, what have we learnt after eleven games bar the increasing leakiness of the top teams' back
four? This past weekend showcased the power of title contenders
to introduce killer substitutes that can really change games.

Edin Dzeko and Javier Hernandez were the heroes of the weekend:
the former once again helping Manchester City finish a challenging fixture
with three points while Chicharito's hat-trick overturned a
two-goal deficit and secured United's fifth comeback of the season.
Hernandez is starting to resemble Ole Gunnar Solskjær who was
infamous for his heroics coming off the bench in his late Nineties
prime (most memorably in the Champions League final in Barcelona
against Bayern Munich). Dzeko himself can easily claim the Solskjær
mantle for City: the champions have won all nine Premier League
matches in which the Bosnian has scored as a substitute. As both
Dzeko and Hernandez show, a team's title-challenging ability comes
as much from their starting eleven as who they can call upon off
the bench; both the Manchester clubs have millions of pounds worth
of talent to help alter the course of a game.

Compare that to the inflexibility of Arsenal, Chelsea and
Tottenham this weekend. Arsenal were unlucky with their last-minute
penalty miss from Arteta against Fulham, but substitutes Aaron
Ramsey and the consistently frustrating Andrei Asrahvin hardly
helped to inspire a comeback for the Gunners after losing a
two-goal lead. Similarly, Chelsea and Tottenham both started their
games strongly, taking leads in the opening 20 minutes, yet they
failed to capitalise and had hardly any match-winning talent to
call upon to help tilt the game in their favour. Despite his great
record, Spurs' substitute Jermaine Defoe is more effective over the
course of a game rather than the last ten minutes, while neither
Victor Moses nor Daniel Sturridge provided much fire power for
Chelsea against Liverpool.

It's not just the issue of having a killer substitute - it's
also about having a manager who is willing to make a change
sooner rather than later. Note how quickly Sir Alex Ferguson and Roberto Mancini made the necessary
improvements to their squads - and they resulted in equalisers in
the 64th minute on both occasions (Maicon's addition for
City helped change the team's structure before Dzeko came on).
Wenger and Di Matteo could have made earlier changes to give their
side some added urgency yet failed to do so until much later.

In a Premier League season where anyone can beat anyone and
defences are increasingly lacklustre, the power of the super sub is
increasingly important - and currently, only two teams have the
bench to provide that winning, last-minute formula.